Hello everyone! Preseason 11 is here and I have discovered a deadly way to play the nightmare pony.

I'm Gold IV ATM so take this guide with a grain of salt; that said it's not going to be long before everyone playing Hecarim uses this. I've seen other builds that work, but this one is the best. This one is the easiest to use to snowball games. Bruiser Hecarim is good, building Triforce or Divine Sunderer, but that's more suited for Hecarim Top where you want to go toe to toe with bruisers. In the jungle you want gank potention which is cc + burst. Therein you will find Eclipse is your friend.

Eclipse gives you lethality, omnivamp, damage and a proc that shields you, bursts your target and gives you bonus MS. With this item alone you will chunck 60% of any adc's HP with a simple charge E > W > Q. Stack Phase Rush on top of that and hunting squishies has never been so much fun.

You want to be wary of CC + burst. After Eclipse I usually build a tanky damage item. Most of the time I'll pick from Sterak's, Deadman's Plate, Maw or Death's Dance. I pick Death's Dance vs fed AD assasins AND when I'm sure I can finish squishes off to cleanse the bleed, and I pick Sterak's vs mixed damage, Maw vs AP damage, and Deadman's if I want a little more help bursting and surviving vs enemy ADC.

Keep in mind, THIS IS NOT A BRUISER BUILD until you build like 4 tank/tanky damage items. This build is about using your abilities, bursting, picking players off and then recharging and going back in. Know when you can stand and bruise around and know when you need to back off/out.

I prefer the Phase Rush path 90+ % of the time. Since I've won the last 10 games with Phase Rush, maybe I should say I prefer it 100% of the time... Once you play it and try the bruiser route you really start feeling people peel away from you after your initial burst. It feels bad to see them get away when you needed one more auto... Happens a lot on Conqueror Hec. Phase rush makes it a lot easier to stick to your enemies early on. It is very satisfying to get the move speed boost and whack them a couple extra times. Many flashes are forced like this

Just understand Conqueror Hec is about duking it out with your enemies and holding the front line. You engage and survive and make the enemy AD run so your team can clean up. Still good, less satisfying IMO.

For minor runes you can go Triumph + Tenacity or Ravenous Hunter + Sudden Impact. I think those are the best. Recently I've preferred ravenous + Sudden Impact since it improves my burst and gives me in-fight healing not dependent on an enemy dying. If you go Domination or Precision for your keystone I think you should take Nimbus cloak every time. There are many times when you get caught that you need the instant Nimbus speed while Ghost starts ramping up. If you skip this rune you will die several times because Ghost didn't get you out fast enough

Start Red, clear chickens with Q+W, grab wolves and blue and gromp - all that should be done before crab is up while you're at 90-100% hp. it is not hard to stay high HP with Hecarim's clear if you're playing it right.

I don't recommend trying to start Red and steal blue unless you're very confident about it. The main rune page isn't the best dueling one for Hecarim (unless you're ahead) and your jungle strength is in clearing the camps with multiple creeps.

per usual look at lanes and look for the ones you can push ahead. Play around clearing the jungle, punishing overextended lanes and securing objectives.

More later if this gets any attention.
Questions/comments welcome!

My setup is built around Eclipse because I really like this item on Hecarim. It gives you burst + clutch survivabiltiy in fights + additional move speed. It's just so easy to proc. Q>aa or Q>W or E>W everything you have just naturally instant procs it. Other items can work really well too, but they require more skill and brain power and since I'm just out for easy wins.... this is what I'll go with until it's nerfed.

Keep in mind I play a skirmishing type of Hec. I play around my CDs and look for picks. Since I have a ton of engage + mobility I play to those strengths. If you want to play pony-tank and go toe to toe with bruisers for days, another item will obv be better.

That said, I have played lots of games where I build Eclipse 1st item and then go straight tank because the team is getting annihilated. I don't go Seralda's Grudge 2nd item unless I'm snowballing. This item is really really strong on Hecarim. Because it makes his Q and W slow enemies they hit it means you will stick to your target and peel away from your enemies easier.

This build is about reacting to what the enemy team has rather than building an OP set of items. You're playing primarily around Phase Rush ganks and Eclipse procs so what you build varies.

Second item is usually Death's Dance unless there is a growing AP monster on the enemy team. In that case I might go Maw (if they're an assassin 1-shotting everyone) or Deadman's Plate. If there's an AP problem on the enemy team but everyone else is AD I will usually go Deadman's or Sterak's second. If I'm snowballing early I'll build Seralda's and continue chasing them down.

TL:DR - Eclipse, DD or tank item, work towards a Lifeline item (Maw or Steraks) and finish off with Seralda's Grudge